Oncopeptides appoints Joseph Horvat as President North America

On December 2, 2019 Oncopeptides AB (Nasdaq Stockholm: ONCO) reported that Joseph Horvat it has been appointed as President North America and CEO of Oncopetides Inc. Joseph will serve on the Management Team of Oncopeptides and will start today (Press release, Oncopeptides, DEC 2, 2019, View Source [SID1234551815]).

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The appointment of Joseph Horvat as President North America represents a significant milestone in the preparations for a potential US launch of melflufen in late 2020. With more than 23 years of pharmaceutical and biotech industry experience, Joseph brings in-depth knowledge spanning multiple therapeutic areas, brands, and geographies. With a thorough understanding of patients, customers, US payors and access issues, Joseph has achieved success across various marketing and sales management roles.

During the last nine years, he served in different positions at EMD Serono (a subsidiary of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany), most recently as Senior Vice President of the Oncology Business Unit with responsibility for driving the US oncology product portfolio. He previously played a critical role in the development of EMD Serono’s commercial build up in antizipation of an upcoming launch. As part of his responsibility, Joseph created a strong culture and attracted talent that incrementally added to the success of the franchise and set the foundation for EMD Serono’s launch of its first immuno-oncology product.

Prior to joining EMD Serono, Joseph spent over a decade of his early career at Bristol-Myers Squibb where he held various roles of increasing responsibility across several areas including oncology, cardiovascular and neuroscience.

Comment from CEO Jakob Lindberg
"We are pleased that Joseph will join us with his extensive experience of launching and marketing oncology products in the US. Oncopeptides is planning to submit a New Drug Application (NDA) for accelerated approval of melflufen at the end of the first quarter 2020. Preparations for a potential market approval in the US are accelerating and our US footprint is expanding rapidly. As President Oncopeptides North America, Joseph will be instrumental in building a first class US organization and executing a successful launch of melflufen. I also welcome Joseph to our Management Team and look forward to working together with him to bring melflufen to patients", said Jakob Lindberg, CEO of Oncopeptides.

For further information, please contact:

Jakob Lindberg, CEO of Oncopeptides
E-mail: [email protected]
Telephone: +46 8 615 20 40

Rein Piir, Head of Investor Relations at Oncopeptides
E-mail: [email protected]
Cell phone: +46 70 853 72 92

This information was submitted for publication at 08.00 CET December 2, 2019.

Constellation Pharmaceuticals to Host Analyst/Investor Meeting at ASH to Discuss Updated Preliminary Data from the MANIFEST Clinical Trial with CPI-0610

On December 2, 2019 Constellation Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: CNST), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company using its expertise in epigenetics to discover and develop novel therapeutics, reported that it will host an analyst/investor event and webcast on December 9 at 12:30 PM EST in Salon 2 at the Rosen Centre Hotel in Orlando, Florida, in conjunction with the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) (Free ASH Whitepaper) (Press release, Constellation Pharmaceuticals, DEC 2, 2019, View Source [SID1234551814]).

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The event will be webcast live and can be accessed on the Investor Relations section of Constellation’s website at View Source Analysts and investors may also access the event and participate in the live question-and-answer session by dialing (877) 473-2077 (domestic) or (661) 378-9662 (international) and referring to conference ID 7892044. A replay of the call will be available at (855) 859-2056, (404) 537-3406 or (800) 585-8367.

MATEON THERAPEUTICS TEAM PUBLISHES THREE NEW PEER-REVIEWED ONCOLOGY ARTICLES OUTLINING THE CLINICAL IMPACT POTENTIAL OF ITS FIRST-IN-CLASS ANTI-TGF-BETA RNA THERAPEUTIC OT101/TRABEDERSEN

On December 2, 2019 Oncotelic Inc. ("Oncotelic"), a wholly owned subsidiary of Mateon Therapeutics Inc. (OTCQB:MATN, "Mateon") dedicated to the development of innovative treatments for cancer, reported the publication of two peer-reviewed expert editorials authored by Fatih Uckun MD PhD, the Chief Medical Officer for Mateon, and Vuong Trieu, PhD, the Chief Executive Officer and President for Mateon, at Oncotelic in the oncology journals Cancer Clinics Journal and Annals of Hematology and Oncology Research (Press release, Mateon Therapeutics, DEC 2, 2019, View Source [SID1234551813]). Also published was a peer-reviewed research article in the prestigious oncology journal Cancers.

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The editorial titled "Monotherapy of High-Grade Gliomas with a TGF-beta2 Targeting RNA Therapeutic" provides an overview regarding the development status, mechanism of action, and clinical potential of Mateon’s first-in-class RNA therapeutic OT101 for the treatment of the most aggressive brain tumors in adults.

Citation Reference: Uckun FM, Trieu VN. Monotherapy of High-Grade Gliomas with a TGF-beta2 Targeting RNA Therapeutic. Cancer Clin J. 2019; 1(1): 1007 (View Source)

The editorial titled "Convection-enhanced delivery of an anti-TGFbeta RNA therapeutic as a new therapeutic concept for children with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma ("DIPG")" explains a new concept for the treatment of pediatric DIPG patients with an RNA therapeutic targeting TGFbeta 2 and the scientific rationale and proof of concept data behind it.

Citation Reference: Uckun FM, Trieu VN. Convection-enhanced delivery of an anti-TGFbeta RNA therapeutic as a new therapeutic concept for children with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma. Annals of Hematology and Oncology Research 2019; 1(1):1003 (View Source)

"These editorials emphasize our commitment to advance our investigational drug OT101 which shows high clinical impact potential to address unmet needs in neuro-oncology.", stated Dr. Trieu.

The research article "Recurrent or Refractory High-Grade Gliomas Treated by Convection-Enhanced Delivery of a TGFβ2-Targeting RNA Therapeutic: A Post-Hoc Analysis with Long-Term Follow-Up" was published in Cancers as part of the Special Issue Personalized Medicine: Recent Progress in Cancer Therapy and is available online:

Abstract: View Source

HTML Version: View Source/htm

PDF Version: View Source/pdf

Special Issue: View Source

Citation Reference: Uckun, F.M.; Qazi, S.; Hwang, L.; Trieu, V.N. Recurrent or Refractory High-Grade Gliomas Treated by Convection-Enhanced Delivery of a TGFβ2-Targeting RNA Therapeutic: A Post-Hoc Analysis with Long-Term Follow-Up. Cancers 2019, 11, 1892 (View Source/htm)

Dr. Uckun explained: "Our post-hoc analysis of the NCT00431561 Phase II clinical study outcome data demonstrates that the anti-TGFβ2 RNA therapeutic OT101 when intratumorally-administered via convection-enhanced delivery (CED) exhibits promising single-agent activity against recurrent or refractory (R/R) high-grade gliomas (HGG). Most importantly, OT101 induced durable complete response (CR), partial response (PR) and stable disease (SD) in more than one third of the efficacy population. In the objective responders, OT101 displayed a previously not reported pattern of single agent activity, which was characterized by (i) slow but robust tumor size reductions; (ii) very often, an early onset transient increase of tumor edema and/or pseudo-progression which preceded the tumor size reductions; and (iii) late-onset objective responses that were achieved at a median of 287 days. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration that the intratumoral delivery of an RNA therapeutic via extended CED in the absence of other therapeutic agents or radiation results in >3 year median PFS and >3.5 year OS in greater than one third of the efficacy population in a R/R HGG trial. It will be important to evaluate OT101 in difficult-to-treat IDH-wildtype, MGMT-unmethylated R/R HGG patients who have failed a temozolomide-based first line adjuvant therapy, as they have a dismal prognosis and are in urgent need for new and effective salvage therapies. Intratumorally administered OT101 exhibited a promising safety profile, but some CED procedure and device-related potential complications were also identified. Therefore, risk mitigation strategies, especially preventive methods aimed at reducing the risk of infections, will be employed in future trials to further improve the potential patient benefit of intratumoral OT101 therapy"

OT101, a first-in-class RNA therapeutic designed to abrogate the immunosuppressive actions of TGF-beta 2, is Oncotelic’s lead anti-brain tumor drug candidate. In a completed Phase 2 clinical study, OT-101 exhibited clinically meaningful single-agent activity and induced durable complete and partial responses in recurrent and refractory adult high-grade glioma patients, including adults with GBM. DIPG, an orphan disease with a low survival rate and no established or effective standard of care. Despite numerous clinical trials of chemotherapeutic agents, immuno-oncology drugs and specific targeted therapies, no significant progress has been made in the treatment of DIPG and the prognosis remains dismal, with a mean OS of 9–12 months from the time of diagnosis, a median survival time of approximately 10 months, and a two-year OS rate of less than 10 percent. Five-year survival is less than 3 percent, and many long-term survivors have evidence of moderate or severe cognitive impairment, likely as a consequence of radiation therapy. Chemotherapy does not have an established role in the management of patients with DIPG. Furthermore, there is no standard treatment for progressive DIPG after the failure of radiation therapy and no salvage regimen has been shown to extend survival. Therefore, there is an urgent need for therapeutic innovations for treatment of DIPG, as reflected by multiple treatment modalities being evaluated in early neuro-oncology clinical trials. Further development of OT-101 may offer renewed hope for salvage therapy not only for adult high-grade glioma patients but also for pediatric DIPG patients. Last month, US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Rare Pediatric Disease Designation for OT101/Trabedersen for the treatment of diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) as a drug for a "rare pediatric disease," as defined in section 529(a)(3) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

Ligand Enters into Worldwide OmniAb® Platform License Agreement with Sanofi

On December 2, 2019 Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ: LGND) reported it has entered into a worldwide OmniAb license agreement with Sanofi (Press release, Ligand, DEC 2, 2019, View Source [SID1234551812]). Under the agreement, Sanofi will be able to use Ligand’s full OmniAb antibody discovery platform which includes OmniRat, OmniFlic, OmniMouse, OmniChicken and OmniClic in addition to Ligand’s patented antigen technology. OmniAb is licensed to over 40 corporate partners globally, and this deal with Sanofi adds to a growing portfolio of OmniAb discovery and clinical development programs with global fully-integrated pharmaceutical companies. Sanofi will pay Ligand an up-front platform access fee, development and regulatory milestone payments and potential royalties on sales of marketed products.

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"This agreement provides Sanofi with access to the industry’s only human immunoglobulin transgenic rats and chickens for efficient generation of mono- and bispecific antibody therapeutics," said John Higgins, Chief Executive Officer of Ligand. "We are pleased to collaborate with a company committed to antibody therapeutics for many years and add OmniAb’s in vivo platform to Sanofi’s outstanding antibody development capabilities."

About OmniAb

OmniAb is a three-species transgenic-animal platform consisting of five different technologies used for producing mono- and bispecific human therapeutic antibodies. OmniRat animals comprise the industry’s first human monoclonal antibody technology based on rats. Because they have a complete immune system with a diverse antibody repertoire, OmniRat animals generate antibodies with human idiotypes as effectively as wild-type animals make rat antibodies. OmniMouse is a transgenic mouse that complements OmniRat and expands epitope coverage. OmniFlic is an engineered rat with a fixed light chain for development of bispecific, fully human antibodies. OmniChicken animals comprise the industry’s first human monoclonal antibody technology based on chickens. The OmniClic chicken is specifically developed to facilitate the generation of bispecific antibodies and retains the ability to generate diverse, high quality affinity matured antibodies. All five types of OmniAb therapeutic human antibody platform, OmniRat, OmniFlic, OmniMouse, OmniChicken and OmniClic, use patented technology, have broad freedom to operate, produce highly diversified, fully human antibody repertoires optimized in vivo for immunogenicity, manufacturability, and therapeutic efficacy, and deliver fully human antibodies with high affinity, specificity, expression, solubility and stability – Naturally Optimized Human Antibodies.

Avid Bioservices to Report Financial Results for Second Quarter of Fiscal Year 2020 After Market Close on December 9, 2019

On December 2, 2019 Avid Bioservices, Inc. (NASDAQ:CDMO) (NASDAQ:CDMOP), a dedicated biologics contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) working to improve patient lives by providing high quality services to biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, reported that it will report financial results for the second quarter of fiscal year 2020 on December 9, 2019 after market close and will host a conference call and webcast at 1:30 PM Pacific Time (4:30 PM Eastern Time) (Press release, Avid Bioservices, DEC 2, 2019, View Source [SID1234551811]). Members of Avid’s senior management will discuss financial results for the second quarter and review recent corporate developments.

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To listen to the live webcast, or access the archived webcast, please visit: View Source

To listen to the conference call, please dial (877) 312-5443 or (253) 237-1126 and request the Avid Bioservices call.